thibaultron

Hi Tom:
 
Looks about right to me! The sanding will help a lot with the unevenness of the lifts. I spent a lot of time sanding (probably could have spent more). The top side particularly and the bottom both needed quite a bit to smooth out the edges that define the sweep of the deck and the shape of the lower hull. The bow was probably the trickiest area to sand to smoothness while keeping it even. Looks like you'll need some filler in a couple of places, but it's better than mine - I had a small gap (about .5-1mm) that ran around the entire ship due to the misnomered lift.....
 
One issue with leaving it with a natural finish is that the lines between the lifts tend to really show up when the hull is sanded and it looks kind of weird. Maybe this would be ok with the dramatic effect of the sails and the opacity of the bottle, but you'll see once you get it sanded - you can hold off on the decision till then, fortunately - I actually held off until I'd already installed the bulwarks....
 
Anyway keep it up!
hamilton

I found the part no 5 the most off out of them all. It was much shorter than no 6, but wider at same time. I figured out I will just glue that bit somehow in the middle to avoid too big gaps at the bow and stern, but will see after shaping how clever was that idea...

Progress from yesterday



Today I finally finished hull



and stern quarterdeck



I also glued underdeck, but spotted quite big gap between that and hull, luckily glue still didn't set, so I took it off. Will resand it later and hopefully shape hull today. In the meantime, I am thinking of colour for it - somehow would prefer to see the wood itself instead of all white ship, but have no idea yet what to do with keel... Maybe a visit in local hobby craft will brighten my mind a bit

Regards

Haha! By "give up" I mean just toss the ship into the bottle in a heap and leave it like that as a "ship-wreck-in-a-bottle" - it's pretty high concept and I don't think many people would get it immediately, but it might be my last option if all else fails.....I won't be trying to mount it again tonight, but am going to stick with redoing the topsail....
 
You might also have noticed that I decided not to rig the fore course - I felt that too much of the deck work would be masked by this large sail, so I opted to go for a rig as depicted on the bottle with topsail only......anyhow....more later
hamilton

Hi Tom:
 
Yes at least she went in! I've not given up yet, though I still have to re-do the topsail rigging before trying again....
 
Here's a shot with the sails set - they look pretty overdone (with the dark seams and reef bands) but again, I'm assuming this will help them show a little bit once in the bottle and for better or worse, I'm going to use them.....I'm not sure I could make a set of sails at this scale - the material would need to be very thin to do it justice and very difficult to sew for the average 10-fingered person. Anyway, hope this helps...
 

 
hamilton

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/the-massive-mighty-mo-bet-you-havent-seen-these-images-before-new-york-naval-ship-yard-january-6-1941.html?src=fba&type=int&page=who
 

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/the-massive-mighty-mo-bet-you-havent-seen-these-images-before-new-york-naval-ship-yard-january-6-1941.html?src=fba&type=int&page=who
 

Thanks, enjoyed the turret tour.
jud

Joys of modelling eh?

Author of Tigersbay was using CA and he was happy with the result, so maybe it will be way to go? I wouldn't like to get any misting on the bottle as it isn't clear already, but from other side - it will be much easier to wipe inside with CA debonder than get rid of set epoxy from pins inside.

Glad to see you were able to get her inside - some logs I have seen mention that it's almost impossbile, the required pressure is high etc. So we have another ship that was modelled correctly .

I see you have used sails provided with the kit. If you don't mind, could you post a picture of the ship with masts up? It is for purely selfish purpose of making my mind up, as I don't know if I should storm the bedroom with scissors and attack the bedsheets (exposing myself to the anger of admiral at the same time )

Another question, have you already finished bottle stopper? Did you stain it or just left as it were? And what colour scheme have you chosen for crest? I couldn't make my mind up yesterday, there is fair amount of pics on google, all look simillar but every one is different. And I didn't like too much how it was painted @ Tigersbay, it seems unfinished to me.

You're nearly there mate. Press on regardless! Good luck!

Thanks Danny:
 
And on that note, I'll add an update on the Hannah build....I began this evening with the intention of fixing the Hannah on the stand (already in the bottle). I spent a bit of time considering the approach. I then made an initial attempt to manoeuvre the ship into the bottle. It is a snug fit, but with a little gentle pressure it actually goes in ok. I only moved the hull about half way into the bottle neck before retreating. Satisfied that I could actually get the thing in, I decided to make a little tool to apply the adhesive (I chose 5-minute epoxy again - more on this choice in a minute) to the stand. This turned out to be the only successful part of my evening's work.....Here is the tool - the filed down end of a bamboo skewer onto which I glued a short piece of 10mm x 1.5mm lime. I chamfered the end of the lime strip to ease the application. Here's the tool and here's my test of its reach and action on the stand - exciting stuff here, people!
 

 

 

 
Once satisfied with the tools utility, I mixed up some epoxy dipped the tool in and applied it on the stand....it was a bit messy and the glass distorts the view to the point where I was unsure whether I was getting an even coat on the stand. I took a look down the bottle from the mouth and all seemed well, so I decided to go for it.
 
In the build log I'm using as reference, the modeller mentioned using double-sided tape to attach one of the kit-supplied tools to the hull of the ship and thus be able to manipulate it in the bottle and onto the stand. The kit-supplied instructions mention making a rope sling using another tool supplied with the kit. I have not tried this (I might later) but decided to go with the other modeller's technique. 
 
Unfortunately, the only double-sided tape I have is wall mounting tape, which is very thick, though also strong enough to get a good leverage on the hull using the tool attached running alongside the stem. But in order not to have the tape stick in the rigging, I had to run it along the turn of the bilge from the bows to about 1/4 of the way back. What I did not notice until I drew the ship out again in failure was that the tape rose up from the hull enough to make it impossible to sit the forward part of the hull on the stand......mistake number 1.
 
Anyway, blissfully unaware of this, I proceeded. On my first attempt, I accidentally wound one of the out threads around the bottom of the hull forward (it didn't get epoxied, thank god! but it did make it impossible to raise the masts) - mistake number 2. Still not noticing the tape issue, I pulled the hull out of the bottle just enough to untangle the out thread. I then began manoeuvring the hull back into the bottle. Here she is on the way in:
 

 
At this point I had to drop my camera and focus all my attention on getting her onto the stand.....I actually wish I had kept the posts, which would have helped me to lock the hull onto the stand. The "V" stand I made is adequate, but when slathered in epoxy the hull slid around quite a bit and the tool, despite it's strong hold on the hull, did not allow much in the way of precise control. I did take a moment to pull the out threads and saw the masts come up quite gloriously (it was a momentary elation) before I finally noticed that the forward end of the hull was not sitting on the stand at all, and that it would never adhere to it as long as the tape was keeping the hull from contacting the stand. I drew the ship out planning on repositioning the tape, which is when I noticed:
 
Mistake number 3 - the boom had detached from the main mast
Mistake number 4 - the port side boom sheet had snapped
Mistake number 5 - the main gaff had also become detached from the main mast
Mistake number 6 - the aft port side canon had become unglued.
Mistake number 7 - the line that runs through the foremast topsail had snapped on the starboard side
 
Sheesh!! I decided I needed to step away from the modelling table for a bit (and write this post) so I could decompress and build up some positive energy to continue....I think that tonight I will simply do the following:
 
1. reattach the canon
2. reattach (with stronger thread) the boom and gaff
3. re-tie the port side boom sheet
 
Tomorrow I'll tackle the topsail rigging (again!) and see about getting it into the bottle....
 
At this point (just to make a long post even longer), I'm a little concerned about the stand....it's epoxied in the bottle, so I imagine it's there for good. But now the lifts on the stand are slathered in epoxy.....I'm considering using slow-acting CA now to set the hull on the stand (despite my earlier misgivings about using it inside the bottle). But I may go with the epoxy again - except holding the thing straight while the epoxy sets will be a test of zen-like patience....on the other hand, will today's epoxy on the stand give me trouble when I go to try to put the boat on the stand at a later time? If anyone has insight here I would greatly appreciate it......
 
Long and the short - I can see that this is doable (which is important), but the goal line just receded significantly after today's modelling debacles......
 
And on and on...
hamilton

Hi Tom:
 
Well there's not actually that much left to document, and I don't have many photos of the ship in process and none of the various construction stages.....as I say I'll try to get some good photos of the ship going into the bottle and to document that....
 
The keen-eyed among you will notice that I replaced the brass pins on the stand with some rough-hewn walnut strips shaped for the hull to rest upon. I thought this would make mounting the hull in the bottle a bit easier - someone (either here or in another place) compared putting the hull on the pins to a carnival game.....not really in the mood for that sort of finagling.......I'm going to have a try at getting her into the bottle this evening, so check for an update (good or bad) later. 
hamilton

Neither would I. I actually mis-read the question, thought he meant what glue to use to fix the boat to the stand.
 
Epoxy is definitely the way to go for fixing the stand to the glass .
 
 
Here is fine Hamilton. There isn't really another forum that would suit any better.
 
  Danny

Thanks for the tip Danny! In the end I went for 5-minute epoxy (the stand is now in the bottle with one of the kit-supplied tools waiting for the epoxy to cure). It's a bit late for a build log, but I'll try to document the insertion of the Hannah into the bottle - if the moderators have no objection, I'll just do it here.
 
Here's photo 1 (all I have for now) - and apologies off the bat for the poor quality - it's hard to get focus through the glass.
 

 
Taking a cue from the fellow with the detailed log mentioned in another thread, I taped a cut out pattern of the stand on the bottle-stand underneath the bottle to mark the position of the stand, using the Hannah outside the bottle to gauge where it should be. I then wrapped a bit of double-sided tape around the applicator tool provided with the kit pressed it onto the top of the stand, laid some epoxy on the bottom, and gently eased it through the mouth of the bottle and into place. Some finessing was required to get the stand in the right position. I'm now going to leave the whole thing in there overnight and then (once the epoxy is properly cured over 24 hours) ease the tool free of the stand and draw it out.....
 
The next step will be to figure out how to get the ship onto the stand.....as mentioned elsewhere (by me and others) the mouth of the bottle is very small and it will be quite a squeeze getting the Hannah in - at least that part corresponding to the quarterdeck area aft, where she's tallest (it's the height rather than the breadth that's the issue, and the masts and sails do not help here - though at least they're somewhat pliable....) I'll update this once the next stage is complete......
hamilton

Your Welcome!

It's kind of funny writing a paper model build log. It's all about cutting some paper, gluing paper and painting parts. And then in the next step, cut paper, glue paper, paint parts. But then it gets difficult: cut paper more carefully, glue paper very carefully, and with a very steady hand, paint parts.
 
Okay, there's more to it than that, but not much to report except basic progress.
 
 

 
I assembled and added what Anatomy of the Ship calls the jeer bits. I couldn't quite gather what the instruction sheet was trying to indicate regarding the windlass handles. The kit includes tiny paper pieces that I would never be able to make use of, so I just used some 26 gauge black annealed steel wire.
 
 

 
I also assembled the bowsprit bitts. Somehow the space between the bitts came out the right size to fit the heel of the bowsprit. That, I made from birch dowel. I wanted a square-stock piece, but all I had were dowels. Since the bowsprit was to be 3/16" diameter, I had to work backwards and do a bit of math in order to determine the width of dowel I'd need to start with since the diameter had to equal the widest cross-section of the square heel of the bowsprit.
 
 

 
Here's another view of the bowsprit bitts and main windlass. Both are actually only temporarily in place, not glued. For all the bitts, I've embedded straight pins into them for strength.
 
 

 
Here's a view of the mast with mast hoops. I used a small piece of blue painter's tape to keep from losing the hoops. 

This week, I decided to push ahead and make some more progress. There are so many tiny pieces to cut out!
 
I decided to work on the windlass as that seemed like a good project goal. I got a little ways along and a tiny piece of paper with a bunch of parts on it went missing. I searched high and low, swearing I had just seen it hours before. Next morning, I see it on the armrest of my chair. I must have leaned on it and it stuck to my elbow and got deposited on the chair! I've never had that kind of problem with wooden ship model kit parts. 
 
Well, pressing ahead with my report here. I finished the main part of the windlass barrel, which consisted of approximately 31 parts... A 1/96-scale windlass barrel with 31 parts! Am I crazy? Well... maybe. It was a daunting task, but it actually went by fairly quickly and it IS pretty cool that I only needed scissors and knife and some glue...
 
 
Here's part of the barrel under construction and some other parts too. Sorry about the short depth of field on the macro focus.

 
When you build something, you gotta try it for size on the model immediately. It's a rule. The barrel came out just a tad long, which wouldn't be a problem except that the deck has thin black outlines where the bitts are expected to fit in place. These will show, but the lines won't be very noticeable when it's all done.

 
 
Here's a closeup of the completed windlass barrel assembly before cleaning it up.

 
 
And one of the same assembly after some touch-up painting. Again, I'm using the paints sold by Shipyard, which is fairly opaque, so I could paint it on without losing the black printed details.

 
 
Here's another view of the skylight, gratings and hatch I made last time. I went back and added a piece of fine gauge wire for the handle on the sliding hatch.

 
 
I was on a roll, so why stop? I'd cut mast hoops from brass tubing on my last model and thought about doing the same for the Alert. In the end, I decided to make my own mast hoops from a piece of a brown paper bag. I did this for another model years ago and it worked out great. So, I thought I'd refresh the skill.
 
I used a piece of brass tubing slightly larger than the diameter of the mast and wrapped the paper around it, applying white glue to it throughout the process. Once dry, I used a razor blade to cut thin rings off. It's been a long time since I've done this, and it took many tries to get even, thin slices. But, I managed to get enough for my purposes.

 
 
So, what did I learn in paper ship modeling school this week? There are a lot of frickin' little frickin' tiny little frickin' pieces that have be cut. The hardest part is really looking at the work ahead. Yeah, it's like ship modeling that way. But, once you start, all you have to do is cut, cut, cut and cut and cut and then glue. As long as you keep your head down and don't stop to count how many more pieces you need to cut, projects finish up pretty quickly.
 
Clare

I have been building in card for some years and have a vast collection of kits.  Shipyard and HMV are my fav's  not counting GMP.  I have also ordered numerous times from GMP and have never had a issue one with them.  Sometimes it seems like 2 wks and you have and then again it might take 4 weeks,  You just have to be patient when ordering.  I try to make mine pretty large when ordering to keep the shipping down per month.
I like the paint that comes w/Shipyard kits, it is a water base gauche paint.  This translates into a medium that one can layer to get many variations of the color and effects.  However, it is not a easy paint to use and takes a bit of practice to get down.  Looks to me, you have mastered it well.  One of the down sides is this is a water base paint and water and card are not friendly.  Here is a tip I learned from modelers from Poland, clear base then paint.  I use good ole model airplane dope for this.  Another way is Future Floor Polish.  Once all is dry and ready, you will find you are not plagued with raised or swelled card.
Hope this has helped.  I also seal all my paint w/sealer from Hobby Lobby.  The stuff that protects your paint job from UV that artistes' use to protect the paintings from sunlight.  Look forward to more of your build.  You fired me up to get out a project I started some time ago..........Santa Maria, Shipyard, all laser cut kit.   

The (automotive) primer is solvent based, so that paper or card is not affected by moisture, and a waterproof coating results.

Tony, that's exactly it. You almost have to build with your eyes closed so you can't see what's coming at you next 
 
I'm on a roll at the moment it seems. I decided to make a simple sliding type hatch cover for the wardroom companionway. At 1/96 it doesn't have to be that sophisticated. Needed planking, so I printed out 0.25pt lines 1/16" apart. I'm using Adobe Illustrator for a number of other tasks, so it was easy enough to fire it up and make the pattern. I'll probably add some kind of handle, either bent wire or a simple block type handle from paper. The completed piece was painted and set into place.
 
I also found an old screen in the garage. It turns out that the mesh is the exact size I need for the mullion pattern for the companion way over the captain's cabin. I pulled out a bottle of canopy glue, which I bought for another project, but didn't like the way it worked. For this one and the small glass panes, it worked great – Just squeezed a little out to fill in all the holes in the piece of screen material. Once dried it looked perfect, so I cut down to the exact size I needed and dropped it into place.
 
Lastly, I cleaned up the deck pumps after adding the "iron bands". I decided to give them natural wood looking handles instead of leaving them their printed color, which was red.
 
 
The skylight for the captain's cabin ready to trim and install.

 
 
Everything in place. The deck pumps were quite a challenge and I'm REALLY glad they're done. I will be burning incense and making offerings to the god of thin CA glue tonight. Also visible is the installed skylight and sliding hatch cover forward of that.

 
 
Small accomplishment here was adding the stern timberheads. You probably can't see it so well in the photo, but the rudder is also mounted.

 
 
So, what's next? Good question. I have no idea. Time to look at the kit drawings and get intimidated back into seclusion... But, I'm thinking about cannon barrels (make them from paper or buy or turn them?), deadeyes and chainplates, the taffrail at the stern, and the windlass assembly.
 
Oh, and I noticed that the AOTS book shows two ships boats: A 16' longboat and an 18' cutter. Don't know where these would go, but I also found that the HMS Mercury parts I'm using includes a boat that's just about 16' long. I'll look at the details of that and see if it might be useable. Not knowing where to put it, I would probably mount it as in tow behind the ship. That is, IF I decide to try building it – It seems like a whole project by itself.
 
Clare

Chris, have you looked at the 1/72-scale HMS Wolf? It just came out last year and it looks like a much more reasonable project to take on as far as sailing ship card models go. It's also about half the price of the Mercury kit.
 
Druxey, thanks for the tip! I will absolutely be giving that a try. I had the same problem in attempting one of the paper model lighthouse kits that Shipyard makes. The laser cut versions of those (also available in the paper model / cut out and laser cardboard / everything included kits) are reasonably prices and no compound curves to deal with. But, I had the same problem with large paper areas that wouldn't react well when painted with water based paints. Enamel or Lacquer primer okay then?
 
Tony, I'm sorry I missed your question about blackening the ball bearings. I have some stainless steel blackener that has worked quite well on some of the ball bearings. It's called Caswell Stainless Steel Black and it's a thick gel that works terrific on stainless steel. Unfortunately, the formula didn't work very well on these ball bearings. It did darken them a little, but not near enough. I suspect that this is some kind of alloy. 
 
I ended up having to roll them around in black paint, and I can't remember now what kind. Having attempted to blacken them though, I think it created a surface took the paint just fine without primer. 
 
 
Well, I wasn't sure what the fate of the Alert was going to be, honestly. But, after working on it yesterday, I'm having fun again. It's just so intimidating to look at a sheet of uncut parts, thinking about all that cutting that needs to be done so carefully. But, once you get going, it's not so bad. Last night I  mounted the rudder, added timberheads and mostly finished the deck pumps. Cutting the handle out on that last one was VERY intimidating. 
 
Now, I'm starting to think like a ship modeler again and looking at the hatches. The kit doesn't show them, but I think I'm going to cut the holes in the main hatch grating for the anchor cables, and I may have to build my own companion way deck hatch, the sliding type as shown in Goodwin's book on the Alert. I'm also thinking about how I'm going to do the skylight over the captain's cabin.
 
I'll post more pics soon.
 
Clare

Nice to see progress, Clare.
 
One way of avoiding soggy paper or card is to spray with grey primer first. Then you can use acrylic paint over it, as it renders the card waterproof. I've done this for years with models of stage sets I've designed.

Hi Ken,
 
I ordered direct from GPM. I've order from them maybe 3 times now and it's worked out fine. They seem to have a problem formatting US addresses correctly, but my orders have been arriving okay. Each time, I'd modified the address information I typed in so that the final address looked okay. 
 
The last time I ordered from them, it took a little over a month. That's the longest I can recall. I was about to write off the order, but then it finally showed up. 
 
On the laser cut parts, the one issue I have with them is that I painted some small parts while still on the sheet. I've been using the paint that Shipyard sells, which is an artist's acrylic. It's water based and it seems to weaken the card stock. So, the small parts fell apart a bit too easily and I lost a few. When I do get the parts free, if they are intact, I touch the parts with a dot of thin CA. That wicks into the part and holds it all together pretty well.
 
Here are a couple photos of the new gratings cut, painted and dry fitted into place. You can see the gratings included in the kit laying on the deck as well. I also found that I could slice off the bottom layer of the grating, opening up the laser etched holes completely. 
  Big improvement.
 
 
Clare
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
 

Thanks Slog, Ken and Tony for the kind words and advice.
 
 
Well, today, I thought I'd take the opportunity to mention that several months ago, I acquired Shipyard's HMS Mercury kit, but not the super deluxe 1/72-scale laser cut version that looks EXTREMELY AWESOME in the box, but the regular 1/96-scale paper model kit. I had to check it out as part of my research into the hobby and also because I just couldn't help myself. 
 
In addition, I bought a matching laser cut detail set from GPM. The basic kit includes the laser cut frames, but the detail set includes some very nice features like the gratings, parts for the ship's boats, cleats, blocks and deadeyes, cannon and carronade carriages, and especially nice are the laser cut parts for the stern and quarter galleries. I just couldn't imaging using the printed windows or trying to cut out the frames. 
 
 
Don't worry, I'm not giving up on the Alert and starting the Mercury just now. But this does lead me to some issues I've been having with the Alert. I do periodically pull it out to work on it, but I'm finding that cutting the small parts has been SUPER difficult and it's really slowed me down. I'm doing it, but I'm used to working with wood and being happy with the results. I'm not used to making something that I can't get looking as nice. I've been tempted to cut my losses and go with the 1/72-scale laser cut Alert kit or something. But, then I came up with a nice time saver that may save my project. I looked over the 1/96-scale HMS Mercury detail set and discovered that several items in that set are compatibly with this kit. Maybe that's saying that the kits aren't to precise scale. But, I was going to build the small Alert kit and if I can get laser cut parts that are the same size as those I would otherwise have to cut-out, then I don't care where the scale might be off at this stage.
 
The detail kit for the Mercury cost me about $35 shipped from Poland, and I'm quite willing to sacrifice it for the good of the cause.
 
Turns out that the quarter deck cannon carriages are a perfect match for the Alerts carriages (and the right quantity), the gratings look like I'll be able to cut them to size, some of the cleats are perfect match and there are some others that I think I can trim quite easily. Also, while I've already acquired laser cut blocks and deadeyes of the right size, the Mercury detail set has a ton of these and enough of the smaller ones are the right size to use for the Alert.
 
Anyway, the point here being that if you want to make your life easier with this kit (and probably others too), get one of the detail sets from GPM. It's definitely going to give my project a boost!
 
Clare